Adornments Received at Sinai

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

After the Jews sinned with the Gold Calf, God plagued the people. These verses follow (Exod. 33:1-6):

Then God said to Moses, “Set out from here, you and the people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring will I give it’—I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go in your midst, since you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.”  When the people heard this harsh word, they went into mourning, and no one put on his adornment. God said to Moses, “Say to the Israelite people, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now, then, leave off your adornments, and I will consider what to do to you.’”  So the Israelites remained stripped of their adornments from Mount Horeb.

Why does God purposefully refer to these things as “adornments,” and not as crowns, clothes or jewelry as the Rabbis describe them? God is hiding something…why?

Why were the people not mournful after the Gold Calf sin or the plague, but mourned only when God said He would not go with them, sending an angel instead? These adornments are clearly related to God being among the Jews, and don’t relate to the Gold Calf sin or the punishment. That is a clue.

Jonathan ben Uzziel offers a remarkable commentary:

And the sons of Israel were deprived of their adornments, on which God’s great explicit name was written; and which had been given them, a gift from Mount Horeb. And Moshe took and hid them in his tabernacle of Torah instruction.

Sforno says these adornments were a “metaphysical readiness.” He and Jonathan ben Uzziel agree these adornments were gifted at Sinai. What does that mean, as the actual story in Exodus mentions nothing about such gifts. Even more enigmatic is the Gemara’s midrash:

Rabbi Simai taught: When Israel preceded “We will do” before “We will hear,” 600,000 ministering angels came and tied two crowns to each and every member of the Jewish people, one corresponding to “We will do” and one corresponding to “We will hear.” And when the people sinned with the Gold Calf, 1,200,000 angels of destruction descended and removed them from the people, as it is stated in the wake of the sin of the Gold Calf: “And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward” (Exodus 33:6). 

Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: At Horeb they put on their ornaments, and at Horeb they removed them. The source for this is: At Horeb they put them on—as we have said above—and at Horeb they removed them, as it is written: “And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb.” 

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And Moses merited all of these crowns and took them. What is the source for this? Because juxtaposed to this verse, it is stated: “And Moses would take the tent [ohel]” (Exodus 33:7).

Reish Lakish said: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will return the crowns to us, as it is stated: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads” (Isaiah 35:10). The joy that they once had will once again be upon their heads.

The Mystery

Jonathan ben Uzziel says that the adornments had “God’s great explicit name written on them.”  The adornments refers to the Jews’ new identity as a chosen people—the gift from Horeb—as if God’s name is written upon the people. This implies a confidence in Torah’s truths. Confidence is something in addition to uncovering Torah truths. Once a person sees a new idea clearly, and is convinced of its truth, a new phenomenon occurs: he attains an unwavering confidence in God’s truth, in His Torah. “God is my rock, there is no flaw in Him” (Psalms 92:16). God designed us to attain such confidence, as this provides security in Judaism. Some people casually learn Torah, and then learn other philosophies, which may appeal emotionally. But for the person who arrives at the clear truth through diligent study, nothing can budge him from his commitment to Torah. His view of God as like an unmovable rock. Permanent truth.

 Torah also states, “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that GOD’s name is proclaimed over you, and they shall stand in fear of you” (Deut. 28:10). The Rabbis teach this means that other nations will recognize the Torah Jew as a great individual, he follows God’s wisdom. On this verse, Sforno says Alexander the Great bowed in honor a Jewish Priest. 

What happened at Sinai was the Jews’ realization of their new status as Torah’s recipients, teachers and guards. This endowed them with a fortitude as Howard Salamon put it. They identified as God’s Chosen. But when God said that He would not go with them because they are stiff-necked and if He did go with them, they would be consumed, this vanquished the Jews of this identity and confidence. They did not lose this identity when they sinned with the Gold Calf or when they were punished. They lost this identity when God rejected them. It was only then that they realized they in fact didn’t attain truth, as they created a Gold Calf. Their identity and their confidence were lost. Insecurity set in and they mourned the greatness that slipped through their fingers. 

Rabbi Ḥama (above) said, “At Horeb they put on their ornaments, and at Horeb they removed them.” This is not a simple historical statement, but he's teaching that Horeb—meaning Sinai—was a double-edged sword. The benefit, of course, was receiving God's Torah. But the downside was accepting a metaphysical God, which was uncomfortable. We see this difficulty because when they miscalculated the time of Moses' descent from Sinai, they made the Gold Calf because they needed a tangible leader, as they said, “Moses the “man” who took us out of Egypt, we know not what has become of him” (Exod. 32:1). The Jews were overly attached to the physical leader of Moses. The event of Revelation gave them their crowns, and removed their crowns; there was a benefit and there was a loss. However there was no avoiding the need for the world to have a proof that God exists, that He is not physical, and that He is the source only of Judaism and no other religion. The benefit outweighs the loss. 

God hides concepts that can be misconstrued, but he provides sufficient hints that enable a wise person to unravel the true meaning. Had God openly written that at Sinai the Jews gained a certain identity and confidence, many people would not understand what that means, as people are sensual and an identity is intangible. Therefore God writes this in a way which people will not reject, and wise people will see the problems, raise questions, and uncover the answers. 

600,000 Angels

The Midrash teaches that “ministering angels”—man’s intelligence—was the cause of them receiving this gift. Meaning their intelligent realization of both accepting the Torah and then a commitment to studying it—naaseh v’nishma—is generated by man's single intellect. That's why the number of angels—600,000—directly corresponds to the number of men. These angels refer to man's intelligence, which earned him two crowns, meaning he arrived at two great concepts. 

But the midrash says the destructive angels—man's emotions—were twice as many: 1,200,000. This is because a two emotions caused them to miss the physical man Moses and succumb to creating a physical intermediary, namely the Gold calf. The two emotions at work here were, 1) their inability to elevate themselves to a higher level and accept a non-physical God, and 2) their over-attachment to a physical leader, Moses.

Moses Took the Crowns

“And Moses took and hid the crowns in his tabernacle of Torah instruction.” Moses preserved the true ideas, preserved through Torah instruction.

The Lesson

What is the necessity of God teaching us about this identity and confidence? It appears knowing additional benefits of Revelation gives us greater appreciation for God’s plan for man to enjoy the good. Torah is one gift. But another gift is the security in Torah and God: a perfect system of only truths, that He wants the Jew to receive, revel in and teach, and to be fully satisfied with.

 “In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will return the crowns”

We will eventually enjoy the messianic era where knowledge of God will be abundant and clear.